what's their next move as well as the international community's? we'll ask two security experts. plus, donald sterling says he made a terrible mistake. his wife says she thinks sterling has dimentia. all this as the clippers interim ceo prepares to talk to reporters. southern comfort, a new polling shows surprisingly strong showing for democrats in red states. first our top story, including what we know about the proof of life video that appears to show some of the kidnapped girls who were taken from their school in nigeria last month. the newly released footage shows what's estimated to be about 100 girls, some of whom appear to be forced to speak on camera condemning christianity and reciting muslim prayers. now, we're not showing the footage of the girls actually speaking individually, since it was clearly obtained in a hostage situation. the voted contains more than just images of what appear to be the kidnapped girls. boko haram leader also appears in the video making demands and threats and claiming the girls have been "converted to islam."

we should stress that actual muslim leaders around the world, including in the united states, have said that what he is calling islam is more like heresy. he claims he will keep them until their brethren are release. last year his men abducted a french family of seven, four of them children between the ages of 5 and 12 who had gone on a visit to a national park in cameroon near the nigerian border. as christopher dickey writes in "the daily beast" officially no ransom was paid by the french government or the victim's relatives, but several reports claim third parties turned over more than $3 million to the terrorist group. an advisor to nigeria's president says paying ransom for the girls is not an option, calling the sale of human beings "a crime against humanity." at the same time international help for niblg era to try and deal with the crisis is still pouring in.

in addition to the u.s., u.k., china, and france, this weekend israeli president benjamin netanyahu offered to send counterterrorism experts to nigeria. neej era says its government deployed two army divisions to search for the girls, and today the u.s. state department reiterated that this is ultimately nigeria's ground operation while stating this country's stance on hostage negotiations. >> our policy is to deny the -- the united states policy is to deny them of their criminal acts, including ransoms or concessions. >> while the nigerian government weighs its next steps, protests continue in that country and patience among nigerians wearing thin. one group women is defiling a half naked march if the girls are not returned at the end of 14 straight days of rally. meanwhile, more of the fortunate few who managed to escape the kidnappers are speaking out, including one girl who says they were abandoned by their teachers on the night of the attack.

>> re we are in this school, so we are sleeping in the room, and we are hearing the gun so that we come out all the stuff and we run and they leave us in the school. >> now as the weeks turn into months and the captors look to capitalize on their crime, the question is this. should the nigerian government or any government for that matter negotiate with terrorists? here with me now to discuss that question, security and threat assessment expert edie pomporos and christopher dickey, whose column we just mentioned. christopher, i want to go ahead and start with you on the points that you made in that column, and i'm going to read you a quote of what you wrote. you says said, "there's really only one answer. deeply unsatisfactory and grossry unsavory as that might be, negotiation with boko haram and almost certainly the payment of a significant ransom." do you really think that's the only way out of this? >> if the objective is to free as many girls as possible, yes, i think that probably is the only way out of it. if we talk about using military

force, those girls are scattered. we saw 100 girls maybe. maybe they were the school girls in that video. it was only about half the number that were taken. what happens to the other hundred if you try to rescue half of them? the options of the use of force are very limited, so tend of the day if the objective is to free the girls, you've got to negotiate, and if you negotiate, this guy is going to want money. he is not going to just want the release of prisoners. i think it's going to be a long and difficult process, and, you know, we can only hope that the result at the end of the day is that most or all of these girls are liberated at the end of it. >> and let me just go to you on that same question. you have -- you know, to christopher's point, they showed 100 or so girls. dwoent know that these are the girls. we don't really know the circumstances behind how that video was made. you know, even family members, fathers of some of the girls had gone into the forests of there in northeast nigeria to work around and were pushed back by the fact that there were militants throughout the forest.

it's very dangerous. is it safe to try to rescue the girls, or to christopher dickey's point, do the nigerians need to find someone to negotiate with and pay up? >> okay. you don't want to negotiate with terrorists. the day you negotiate with terrorists, game over. you just gave the green light to every terrorist across the globe to say go ahead and do what you are going to do. we're going to negotiate with you. now you are going to see more copycats, more actions. what you want to do is not an overt mission where you are taking military force and pushing through. a covert mission. you gather intelligence. you get informants, people that know the boeko har am system and people that are in there. you gather intel, human data, satellite images. everybody, you come together and put a proper covert operation.

>> you see now everyone has put pressure, and you haven't been able to resolve it, and now they want help. you have israel, who is very good at this. you have the united states, china, france. all those entities come together. it can appear for the world that it's nigeria running the show. on the outside that's fine. but if the nigerians are smart, they will let the countries that know what they're doing run the show. >> christopher, i want to go back to you on sort of the parallels here. i think a lot of people think about the situation with somali pirates who were taking ships, mainly european, in many cases the negotiation did happen. they were paid. they took more. after the united states pulled off an operation that was done using a lot of covert intel and information and really killed, you know, straight out those pirates, you haven't seen that kind of activity repeated. at least not with american ships or that we've heard of. would it make more sense to second a message to boko haram that you're not going to get away with it this time or in the future? >> well, first of all, i think you're misreading what happened with the somali pirates.

there was one incident where the americans were able to rescue the captain of the boat, captain phillips. we saw the movie. there was another incident where the french were able to stage a rescue mission. there were many other incidents where rescue missions were staged, and they absolutely failed. what stopped the somali pirates is a much more concerted action by naval forces in that region to prevent them from taking over the boats in the first place. you can do something to prevent further kidnappings in nigeria, but when it comes to liberating these particular girls, you're in a different situation. i don't know what evi is talking about when she says people don't negotiate with terrorists and don't negotiate with hostage takers. that's done by israel all the time. gillad, one israeli soldier was captured and taken to gaza, and more than 1,000 prisoners were released in order to free him after years of negotiation. the truth is that everybody says

you shouldn't negotiate with hostage takers, but the hostage takers know perfectly well that someone always does negotiate. >> your response to that? >> you have to take every situation differently and that situation he is talking about, you're speaking about years and years and years of trying to negotiate. you have to be careful. you can't openly start negotiating because then you just gave them the green light. you make these people emboldened to continue this type of behavior that we can do this and then we can go ahead and keep doing this collecting ransom, wreaking havoc. that's what terrorism is. you have to be careful and thoughtful. i think the proper way to do it is to allow the entities, the governments, the clandestine operations to do their thing. let them infiltrate. you can negotiate. you can speak. you can set up drop-off points. you can communicate. can you do all that stuff on one hand, but at the end of the day, what you want to be doing is behind the scenes. that's the real way to deal with a threat like this. it's not a one-on-one negotiation. you want to avoid that at all

cost. if it comes down to where you can't figure anything else out, then perhaps that's a different route, but they're going to do everything they can in their power with the proper government officials. you have all these countries together. you're telling me that collectively they can't try to do something? of course they can. it's the united states. it's france. it's china. it's all these countries coming together and in one concentrated effort they can solve this problem. >> christopher, i want to ask you about the other x factor here, which is the human trafficking angle. the boko haram group could potentially be asking for a ransom. at the same time they could also just be putting these girls, god forbid, on to the market for international slavery. they could essentially be selling the girls for a profit. how does that factor into any decision to even talk to them? >> well, you know, the leader of boko haram has raised that possibility or seems to have raised that possibility, but if you look at what he is really saying in that first video that he released, he is saying i have a marketplace for these girls. the marketplace he was probably

thinking of once their profile became so high was the international marketplace that we're discussing right now. negotiating with western countries, with the nigerian government to get a lot more than he can ever get in any slave market in africa. i think that he may have originally thought that he would sell these girls to his boys or give these boys -- give these girls to the young men who are fighting for him as a kind of reward. i think that's probably what he did think. once their profile was raised so high by all this international attention, he realized that they had become very valuable commodities and that is the way he is going to deal with them. >> well, i would think that would also make him somewhat vulnerable. we are out of time. this is a very interesting discussion. i think we need to continue it. i just want to quickly give you a last word. we did show earlier that you were with your classmates, with your students actually, you know, participating in that movement to sort of free these girls. i think just as a last word, do we need to go back and have a reexamination of this whole whered of slavery?

we do see girls being sold, and one in seven of them are from nigeria. >> it's a sad situation, and we need collectively as a world to come together to help countries like this to spread knowledge and it's sad that something like this has to happen where everybody has to have awareness that we're realizing that this does happen in the world because parts of this event, nobody knew these problems or these situations or the issues that were happening in nigeria. probably how many people didn't even know what boko haram was, unfortunately? >> they certainly do now. i think they've raised their profile to their own detriment. thank you so much. thank you both. >> thank you, joy. coming up, the sterling saga continues. the clippers owner and his wife both speak out for the first time since the controversy flared up. they are not giving up, but the nba is fighting back. then don't count out the democrats in november because now it looks like they're making a comeback where republicans least expect it. starts with back pain... ...and a choice. take 4 advil in a day which is 2 aleve... ...for all day relief.

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zeerchlgs the l.a. clippers organization will continue its attempt to move to a post-donald sterling era with a news conference announcing the team's new ceo. dick parsons is the former chairman and ceo of time warner, as well as a chairman of citigroup. most importantly, he is one of the few african-americans to ascend to the top of the fortune 500. he enharts a team that is famous for come from behind -- against the oklahoma thunder to tie the series. and a team that's also known for still being owned by donald sterling. in an interview set to air tonight, sterling says of his infamous taped remarks about black people, "i'm not a racist. i made a terrible, terrible mistake." yet, in that same interview donald sterling still seems unwilling to accept full responsibility for his terrible, terrible mistake.

>> i don't know why the girl headline me say those things. >> you were saying you were set snup. >> yes, i was baited. it's not the way i talk. i don't talk about people, for one thing, ever. i talk about ideas and other things, but i don't talk about people. >> even more mazing are sterling's comments about nba great magic swron son who sterling seemed to dispairage in the tape that started him down the road towards the nba exits. >> has he done everything he can do to help minority? i don't think so. but i'll say it, you know, he is great. but i just don't think he is a good example for the children of los angeles. >> rob is here as the host of "speaking of sports" on nbc sports radio. he is shaking his head. you were listening to him. i think we were having the same internal reaction. donald sterling clearly doesn't get it. >> clearly. >> but he still owns the team.

i mean, how do the clippers move on if they cannot extricate him from the team because is he going to fight it. >> that's the job of the nba and the nba owners, and they are meeting as we speak. they are continuing a process of putting this to a vote, and we're seeing if they can get three-quarters of the owners to vote to banish him. >> if that happens, he is out. there's nothing he can do to fight that? >> it's not quite that simple. you know, this is a xliktd complicated legal situation. according to the nba constitution, yes, it's just that simple. they vote him out, and he is gone. by the way, his wife -- his wife, shelly, would be gone too under those circumstances because she's not a controlling owner. have you family law. you have california law. >> i want to you hear abc muse got an exclusive interview with shelly sterling.

let's hear the sound of her talking about control of the team specifically. heats hear shelly. >> is donald sterling a racist? >> i have never heard him say racial things. i don't know -- it was horrible when i heard it. i mean, it was just degrading and it made me sick to hear it. but as far as a racist, i don't really think he is a racist. >> do you think your husband should apologize? >> absolutely. >> well, that was shelly sterling actually talking about her feelings about donald sterling either saying things about black people or being racist, but can we also now hear her talking specifically about the team ownership piece that we have that sound ready? >> i'm fighting for my 50%. >> there are reports that the nba wants to oust you completely as a team owner. you'll fight that decision? >> i will fight that decision. >> so two pieces there. first of all, she's saying,

well, donald is not a racist. he just said some bad things. but she says she will fight being ousted from the team. could shelly sterling retain ownership of the team and wipe away the stain that we have here, or don't they both have torg? >> donald sterling is listed as the controlling owner of this team. each team can only have one controlling owner at a time, and it's donald. now, this thing is held in a trust. the team is held in a trust so, there could be arguments by shelly that she's actually along with donald a controlling owner. this is so complicated legally. it's hard to really know where to begin. the bottom line is that the nba maintains they have the ability to vote them out. i'm asking for a second chance from them. so by doing that, he is

acknowledging in a sense their authority to throw him out. the question is if they do vote him out, will he still respect that or will he go to the courts? my guess would be the latter. sfroo do you think the nba made a mistake by making his ouster contingent on just the statements, and not on the past allegations of racism or racist behavior, including toward his own tenants, which would have drawn in shelly sterling. >> i don't know how they could have done that. those past allegations all were on the record for a long time. if they didn't do anything about it at the time, so it's hard for them now to go back and say, well, all these allegations were made five, ten years ago, and we're going to throw you out because of those things. why didn't you do anything about that then. i think they had to base it entirely on this tape, but shelly sterling can say, as she is, i didn't do this. this tape is not me speaking. she has sort of a moral argument, and, listen, the other thing is i guarantee you that there are owners in the nba right now who are very uncomfortable with this who do not like the idea of voting out one of their own just because of private remarks made in a private phone call because what happens next? does one of them end up being

taped saying something? i mean, they're all uncomfortable with this, but i think they have no choice but to vote him out because of the p.r. implications and the players who clearly want hem out. >> yeah. his best quote is why did that lady make me say those things? why did she do that? >> the quotes just keep coming. he needs to stay away from all microphones from here on out. >> forever. rob, thank you very much. >> a reid alert on use korean. pro-russian militants in ukrainian regions are declaring i understand penicillin today after they say people have overwhelmingly voted to separate from ukraine. the insurgents say more than 90% of voters in donets and luhansk where heed he's hoez to be independent. the state department and european leaders are calling the referendum ill legitimate. the separatists want russia to absorb these regions just like it annexed crimea, but so far the russians aren't saying whether they're considering that, and we will be right back. so i c

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>> next up we read between the lines. first, it's time for we the tweeple. you're still tweeting about the newly drafted nfl player michael sam and the kiss he shared with his boyfriend when he got the big news. when sam became a member of the st. louis rams this kiss sent off a firestorm with former intoem champ derek ward firing off this angry tweet. you got little kids look telling draft. i can't believe espn allow thad to happen. rams take sam -- still, most of you are accepting and even welcoming sending tweets like this one. "michael sam is not a gay football player. he is a football player who happens to be gay." reports say sam's jersey is the number two seller among the

draft picks. now to someone who is breaking boundaries in late night comedy. a new show called "the minority report" is set to replace the colbert report on comedy central. you have been buzzing about larry who shoesz the new show and reminiscing about his hilarious stint as the senior black correspondent on "the daily show." take a look. >> what a week to be senior black correspondent. i got on a plane to come out here and talk about cliven bundy. by the time i landed donald sterling was blowing up. i mean, in one news cycle weave got libertarian cowboy races, oh, jewish sports races, and dudes bragging about their black friends through a kkk. >> he is very funny. the minority report will provide an opportunity for the under represented voices out there to be heard, according to comedy central, and that's great, but the real question is will it be pronounced the minority report. you get it? now from american television to euro vision.

conchita burst, also known as the bearded lady, who won the iconic singing contest that you may never have heard of or heard of for the first time. her real name is the much less colorful tom newworth won the essentially american idz ol wrrch she told the press that the big win is in part a statement against intolerance. >> i thank europe, and i'm so thankful about that, but i think we said something. stwloo 47,000 tweets were sent per hour when the results were announced, and many of you are calling concheetah the love of love and tolerance, pointing to the anti-gay rhetoric of putin and others. she's use this platform to row moat universal acceptance. that's a wonderful sentiment to start off your week. you can join the conversation with fellow reid report fans on twitter, facebook, instagram, and msnbc.com, and keep telling us what's important to you. now this news. the washington monument is open again after an earthquake

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it means you'll be able t post from the breakroom. great! did it hurt? when you fell from heaven (awkward laugh) ...a little.. (laughs) im sorry, i have to go. at&t is building you a better network. up to now the conventional beltway wisdom has been the democrats are doomed. in a last week the odds of democrats losing control of the united states senate may have gotten a little less gloomy. new polling from nbc news finds a double digit lead for arkansas democratic incumbent mark pryor fwlsh a race many thought was a near sure thing for a gop pick-up. arkansas, of course, is one of the must holds seats democrats need to keep in order to maintain control of the senate.

mitch mccobble is in a tight race against his democratic only independent, with his job approval rating still under water. while the nbc poll shows the democrat in georgia slightly behind whichever gop candidate is chosen to face her, polling by the atlantic constitution finds michelle nunn beating whoever is chosen to face her later in the month. now, this isn't to say the democrats will retain the senate. i mean, it is may. the point is there's no finality of the polling progress nost indications. it's still going to be race by race. joining me now christina, editor in chief of roll-call and mckay hoppins for buzz feed. i will start with you, mckay. democrats overall were sort of seen as just doomed. like i just over. we shubt even have an election. then you started to see other polling, individual polls in some of the southern races as well as some other stuff that's being done in the new republic

and others where they're taking a look individually city at the states and saying, well, democrats may not be in catastrophically bad shape. >> yeah. i mean, i think this is the problem with creating these narratives so early on. i think it started when nate silver came out with his prediction, right, and obviously polls change, races go up and down. republicans have considered it their one remaining stronghold. even when democrats would day dream about a future republican party that would shrink to just a regional strength, it was always in the south. there was always in the southeast. now we're seeing a lot of evidence that maybe they're going to have to fight for their power there too. >> what do you think is behind that? you know, why would a mark pryor, he is leading pretty substantially against tom cotton, if you look at the polling, at least our nbc-meris polling showing him in good state in a state like arkansas as people saw as a give-away. democrats couldn't win it. you see mark baggich done. you see allison grimes doing better than expected in a state like kentucky.

what do you think is behind in the democratic revival in these southern states? >> there are a couple of dynamics at work. i'll separate a few. you mentioned mark baggich, and it's go that could boost his hopes. it's going to look at that issue. we also have the dynamics where you have two candidates, it's much ease wrer for voters to make a choice. people start to make up their minds. we're waiting for primary results in a lot of cases. mitch mcconnell is probably going to do just fine on may 20th, and get rid of his tea party challenger, and then voters will start to focus and some of the republicans that are split in a republican dominated state like kentucky are going to start coming back into the fold. michelle nunn, we don't know who she is going to run against right now. national republicans have their favorite. tea party republicans have their favorites. it's a very split republican primary heading there. once you start to see that condense, then you start to see poll numbers shift. what's really interesting when it comes to people like pryor is

power. right? you know, he has got a lot of seniority. he has issues that he is able to advance back home. he brought the president to his home state last week to talk about tornadoes and the relief funding for that, and this is an area where he is really able to push and say i am paying attention to what's going on back home. this is the most important thing to me. i'm not necessarily a creature of washington. but i can benefit from having all of the power that comes with being in the majority in the senate. those are all playing. >> isn't that partly the thing. it's incumbent si. it could also ultimately save mark pryor. the odds of taking you out of office are actually less than they appear based on the early polls. >> that's the thing. since 2010 we've got -- we've arrived at this moment in politics where we assume that income ensy is detrimental to candidates because there were so many incumbent that is were tossed out. that was a particular moment in politics. to make that last forever for the infinite future, a lot of

things would have to structurally change about american politics that we haven't seen change yet. being an incumbent, it's still a huge advantage. there's still a good chance -- >> you have an infrastructure, and have you so much going for the incumbents. the x factor might be the affordable care act. you do now see a tremendous pushback and energy among democrats around this idea particularly of the medicaid expansion in the states where it's not happening, and even in a state where it is, where you would think that the affordable care act would be a -- take a look at that -- this in kentucky. in kentucky obama care very low favorables. it is 33% favorable, whereas connecticut is a little better off where people actually prefer connect to obama care. they are the same thing. do you have the possibility where the affordable care act ends up being a motivating issue in a sense for democrats? >> maybe. one thing you could see in north carolina, there were hire than average sign-ups there, even

though there was not a lot of help from the state legislator there and obviously the governor who is a republican. the other issue is that it's not necessarily democrats really excited about the affordable care act, but republicans are less excited about it because it seems to be going smoothly. the white house took this victory lap. there's a lot we still don't knowing about some of the sign-ups and costs and how much people are going to pay into the program and all of that, but i've talked to several republican consultants who told me they are really concerned if they don't have obama care as a rallying issue for the base, they need people to be angry at something to show up. well, that's one reason why you are seeing the special committee investigating what happened in benghazi because this is something that excites the base, it gets people paying attention and angry at the white house, which then the republicans believe translates to being angry at the democrats. >> and angry at the president, right? specifically mckay, but can you carry that although way from may to november? the affordable care act obviously disipating. at the same time things like not expanding medicaid is actually

rising as a motivating issue for democrats. something in north carolina. >> if you look back at 2006, democrats road the wave of unpopularity for the incumbent president at that time by using a bunch of different issues. primarily iraq, but there are a bunch of issues, right? i think the republicans -- the republicans i talked to say it can't just be about obama care. it's part of the strategy, but it can't just be that. benghazi will be part of it. you know, even the economy in a lot of these states is not great, and the president in the southern states still has very low approval ratings. so they'll find ways to remind voters that they don't like the president, but it can't just be one issue. >> you're going to stay with us, and when we come back, we're going to talk about the republicans now. rand paul's latest moves and how they're already showing his 2016 strategy. we'll be right back.

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rapid paul and not rand paul. a few years ago he was seen as a fringe candidate, an off shoot of his father who the republican establishment gave no shot at getting the gop nomination let alone winning the white house. that might be changing thanks to the senator's all-out push to convince not just potential primary voters, but that very gop establishment that he really could be their guy. his blanket approach has covered all the bases. while crisscrossing the country and hitting nearly every primary location, team rand has set up a 2016 campaign network in all 50 states. according to the washington post, he is also courting wall street titans and silicon valley entrepreneurs who donated to the presidential campaigns of george w. bush and mitt romney. attending elite conclaves in utah and elsewhere along with other gop hopefuls, and he has thrown his tea party -- fellow kentucky senator mitch mcconnell. he is also aggressively wooing nontraditional constitch wednesdayys for the gop, courting african-americans and

young people. remember, last year's trip to howard university, his visit to berkeley and that trip to detroit. on friday rand paul continued that theme meeting with african-american pastors in memphis. there's great upward potential for us. have you to keep trying. you can't give up. >> just before that meeting rand gave the "new york times" a headline grabber when he told a reporter everybody has gone completely crazy on this voter id thing, adding, i think it's wrong for republicans to go too crazy on this issue because it's offending people. paul's strategy is resonating with the republican establishment, and that means it's going to be that much harder for the not rand paul candidates to catch up. the latest p not rand paul contender is senator mark row

rubio. >> it seems obvious. i've openly said in the past that it's something i'll consider. do you think you're ready to be president. >> i do. i think that's true from multiple people that would want to run. >> can marco rubio not make it as the rand paul -- christina, i'm going start with you this time. let's go back to rand paul for a second. he is now clearly a mainstream candidate. the one thing you're seeing rand paul do is go out and court these voters, not just the broad constituencies, but also young people with a message that it's clear he really believes in. libertarian leaning message. his op ed in the "new york times" about drones was very

interesting. that's going after some very particular voters. people should not underestimate him. he is definitely running. at the same time it's far too early to declare who is against whom and who is even going to run. >> is that true? the establishment, i think there was a palpable sense that she they did not want to see rand paul succeed, which does seem to have dissipated. >> i think the establishment is getting more comfortable with rand paul. one of the most important issues of the money class in the gop, the big donors is foreign policy and national security. he is not a hawkish neo con. that's why we're seeing people like marco rubio and even ted cruz start to occupy that space in foreign policy because they know that if it's going to come down to them versus rand paul, that's where they can pull a lot of the establishment support from. if you look at rand naul a microcosm, just take them to a state, jeb bush beats them handily.

27-14. marco rubio pulling in third at 11%. rand paul sort of has the cosmetic appearance of expanding the party, but at the end of the day if you look in a state like florida, the establishment candidate still comes out ahead of him. >> sure, except what you should be looking at is iowa and new hampshire. ron paul was strong in new hampshire. there's a lot of organization there. that's a message that can appeal to rand paul type voters. then iowa caucuses, you know, it's about organization. it's about face-to-face interaction. this is a candidate who is incredibly good on the stump. he has been for a long timing every time, and is he refining that as he goes, and the fact that he is talking to different constituencies is a test that helps him improve as he considers running. >> well, i mean, we're talking to iowa and new hampshire. let's go to marco rubio, and let's talk about iowa for a second. very religious right. that primary is really sort of a religious conservatives to win, right marco rubio seems to be trying to cuddle up to that crowd. he has left immigration behind, and his new thing is to sort of become a climate change denier. let's take a listen to him talking to jonathan carl on

friday about climate change. >> how big a threat is climate change? >> yeah, i don't agree with the notion that some are putting out there, including scientists that, somehow there are actions we can take today that would actually have an impact on what's happening in our climate. our climate is always changing. >> let me get this straight. you do not think that human activity and the production of co2 has caused warming to our planet? >> i do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraiting it. >> he is also, mckay, essentially saying that he is an aing nostic on how old the earth is refusing to say it's older than 6,000 years. is this marco rubio, his way in? >> i think these are two different issues. the issue of how old the earth is, he obviously -- that's when he famously said i'm not a scientist man, right? nafs obviously a gotcha question because if he had gone one way, he would have, you know, made a lot of evangelical christians angry. he tried to kind of back off that. on climate change, this is the price of running in a republican

primary. the vast majority of the conservative base agree with what marco rubio just said, and whatever he personally believes in, he is going to have to say that. it is interesting. you see marco rubio appealing to the evangelical base in a lot of other ways, including he has been kind of quietly talking about human trafficking a lot recently. that's an important issue for young evangelicals, if you look at polling. it will be interesting to see if he tries to go that route come 2016. >> also, there's a lot of evangelicals that support immigration reform, which he championed last year. >> they might be the only ones in the party left because that's an issue that is definitely earned him going forward. christina, mckay, thanks to both of you. >> thank you. all right. up next, reid between the lines on why beyond the horror of the kidnapped school girls, the world should be paying attention to nigeria. power plant in the country to combine solar and natural gas at the same location. during the day, we generate as much electricity

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on the sunday before 276 school girls were kidnapped from

their schools in a rural town in northeastern nigeria something big happened that was poised to put the country on the global center stage. as the atlantic reported it, the economy of nigeria nearly doubled racking up hundreds of billions of dollars ballooning to the size of polish and belgium economies and breezing by the south african economy to become africa's largest. as days go, it was a good one. now, how that happened was a matter of statistics. the nigerian government recalculated its currency. a process called rebasing. bh all was said and done, nigeria instantly became africa's largest economy and the 26th largest in the world. with a gross domestic product of $510 billion u.s. through 2013. 89% larger than what was previously estimated and $190 billion larger than south africa. nigeria is a huge country. it's home to 170 million people. that's one out of every six people living on the african

continent. by 2045 it's estimated that nigeria will surpass the united states as the world's third largest population. that's at 2045. >> the country was hosting the world economic forum, a major gathering of world leaders, economists, and business. we're arguably the corrupt and inarguably incompetent government of good luck luck john than had the chance to show up for modern growing nigeria whose economy had the potential to be the envy of the african continent. >> they have 120 million cell phones in use and with a young population racked by extremely high unemployment where many people live on $2 a day. nigeria is very attractive to international manufacturers.

>> it's the nigerian film industry that is the real growth engine for the country. it's the second leading film industry in the world behind india's bollywood and ahead of our own hollywood, churning out 50 movies a week generating nearly $600 million a year and employing more than one million people, making it the country's second largest employer after agriculture. it's poised break into the u.s. market this year with the release of a movie half of a yellow sun, starring british actor and oscar nominee whose parents are nigerian, and tawny newton who is half tanzanian. they are shopping for projects in the u.s. and hiring american actors for their films. nigeria is a tale of two countries and one that bears pain attention to, even after hopefully those 276 girls are found. that wraps things up for the reid report. you'll see you back here

tomorrow, and be sure to join us on the reid report.msnbc.com. the cycle is up next. cyclists, what is going on today? >> really interesting stuff. i did not know that nigeria many a bigger film he industry than america. really fascinating stuff. we're going to talk about 2016, who the democratic nominee might be. that's hillary clinton. and who the republican nominee might be is tbd. none of us have any idea. we'll talk about donald sterling. is he actually a racist. we're going to tackle a difficult question today. we'll talk about how to run a weed business. the ceo of colorado's denver's cannabis conference is going to be talking to us about how to do that. ab where i keeps asking what is a bud tender? we'll tell you after the show. i'm going to talk about michael sam and does he have a chance to change the nature of american masculinity, sort of make us rethink what it means to be gay and, thus, what it means to be straight. >> that's a fascinating question. can't wait to hear it. the cycle comes up next. if i can impart one lesson to a

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>> then the obamas sure seem cozy now, but remember 2008, krystal, it could be like that? in politics who wants tepid tea. new numbers show support looking luke warm even in the sorry. i'm krystal ball. for all those conservatives, i like to have fun with my name. have i got a poll for you? the battalions for the exclusive interviews. donald sterling and his wife both sound off, but maybe they would be better keeping quiet. i'm josh in for ari, and where are all the lawyers when you need them some. >> good question, josh. pot may barely be legal in colorado, but business is booming, and now the mile high city is prepping for the first ever cannabis conference? i'm abby huntsman. what is bud tender, and be specific. have i no idea. although burning questions will be answered here on the cycle.

it's probably the most highly anticipated political book of the we're. hillary clinton's hard choices. the cover title and first excerpt were recently released. clinton herself has swroeked just another light summer read, but you can bet there will be a mad dash to buy the hundreds of house of copies that will be available on june 10th. hot cakes, which is -- some believe the clinton machine is undertaking a massive sort of spring cleaning, and this is part of it. the a.p. calls it an airing of her political pasts before she sets the course about her much speculated about future. the benghazi and monica lewinsky's tell-all are clearly outside of the clinton's control, but the timing for herbert now versus after she announces she runs. now, will the partisan political circus surrounding ben fwauzy ever end? who knows? the "new york times" is upshot,